Fogged up at Uddel, 19-01

A clear night when none was expected! After initial reluctance to go out in the cold I decided on following Bart K’s lead. I still had no real feel on the performance of my scope so a proper session was what I needed. So, off to Uddel!

I again set up the scope in just two minutes. At first turbulence in the tube messed up the view. This was especially noticeable on Mars. But some ten minutes later things got better fast. I had pinpoint stars! The four members of the Trapezium were sharp as can be. Even at 120 times mag. So it was proven the temperature was the culprit during my session at the Hessenweg, and not collimation. Also again it became clear to me this telescope holds it’s collimation remarkably well! I didn’t have to make any adjustments. Good times again!

Also my easy peasy balance fix worked like a charm. Only a small issue still exists when swapping eyepieces: with no eyepiece the tube will still rise up when pointed at objects lower in the sky. In will fix that someday.

But then…fog. And dew. On my eyepiece but also the Telrad. I already know how to fix the Telrad fogging up though. I will add a small fan to the side of the Telrad and solder some elements on there as to get warm air into the Telrad. The air will then flow out form under the Telrad glass window, like in a car. I’ll have to drill in the Telrad but it’s not all to hard to do. So, a nice new ATM project is born. The eyepiece I will protect with the Kendrick Dew-Not I already possess. I’m on the lookout for some kind of battery but haven’t decided on 5V USB or a regular but heavy 12V.

All in all I had a nice two hours out in the field. The scope isn’t perfect but it’s good enough for now. In September I might just go to Hohen Woos again and by then I want to have all issues fixed. First there is spring with a 8 day bikepack trip and our family summer vacation in Southern Europe!